Method of using data binning in the analysis of chromatography/spectrometry data

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a method of analyzing three-dimensional data obtained from a chromatography/spectrometry process, in particular an LC/MS process using a two-dimensional multi-variant statistical analysis. The LC portion permits separation of analytes within a sample. The information obtained from such a procedure typically depends on retention time (R t ). As the analytes progress through the system, they enter the MS region of the LC/MS system. There they are ionized and a mass detector then detects these ionized species. The information procured from this procedure is generally reported as intensity for a corresponding m/z value. Therefore, an LC/MS system provides at least three pieces of information. Principle component analysis (PCA) is a robust method of multi-variant analysis of this type of data between different samples. However, typically, PCA analysis is performed using only two-dimensional data. Therefore, it is expected that at least one parameter of data obtained from a LC/MS operation is lost, however, the methods disclosed herein preserves all three mathematical dimensions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/989,533, filed on Nov. 16, 2004 (Attorney Docket No. AE-306), whichclaims benefit of PCT Application No. PCT/US03/17190, which designatedthe U.S. and was filed on May 30,2003 (Attorney Docket No. WAA-306 WO),which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/384,712,filed May 31, 2002 (Attorney Docket No. WAA-306). The contents of theseapplications are expressly incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of analysis ofmulti-dimensional data by an analysis method applicable to fewerdimensions by the application of data binning to the data In particular,the present invention relates to a method for the analysis ofchromatography/spectrometry data using data binning The invention hasspecific application to methods of doing liquid chromatography/massspectrometry (LC/MS) data analysis employing data binning combined withprinciple component analysis.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Metabonomics is a rapidly growing area of scientific research. It is asystems approach for studying in vivo metabolic profiles and can provideinformation on a particular disease, toxicity, and gene function. Inmetabonomics, the effect of a pharmaceutical candidate on a whole animalor organism is investigated by studying the changes in metabolism over atime course following compound administration. The analytical datagenerated in these studies is analyzed by multi-variant mathematicaltechniques such as Principle Component Analysis (hereinafter “PCA”).This mathematical technique is employed to highlight both subtle andgross differences in the samples being examined.

To date, the vast majority of work in this field has utilizedproton-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) as the analytical method ofchoice. While being very effective, NMR has several disadvantages,namely, poor sensitivity, time consuming analysis, and the non-detectionof some chemical classes, e.g., sulfates. A further draw back to NMR isthat as all of the signals are contained in one spectrum it is easy forone large compound to mask subtle but important changes in a lowconcentration analyte. Further, the necessary removal ofxenobiotic-related compounds from the NMR spectrum also removes signalsfrom endogenous compounds of interest thus reducing the data set usedfor subsequent PCA analysis.

Chromatography, both gaseous and liquid, combined with spectrometricanalysis such as ultraviolet spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy,nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectrometry, has evolved into apowerful technique. Electrospray mass spectrometry coupled with liquidchromatography (LC/MS) has become the technique of choice forbioanalysis, both quantitative and qualitative. The technique is robust,sensitive, and selective with sensitivities up to the pg/mL rangereadily achieved. The use of short columns and rapid gradients has alsoallowed LC/MS to achieve analytical cycle times in the region of onesample per minute with good chromatographic resolution and sensitivity.Thus the application of LC/MS to metabonomics is a logical step. Whilethe mass spectrometer will give both high sensitivity quantitation andstructural information, the chromatography step will address the issueof overlapping signals by separating out the analyte giving a timeresolution The use of LC/MS is preferred over mass spectrometry infusionas the chromatography step reduces ion suppression by reducing thenumber of competing ions going into the mass spectrometer at any giventime. Another advantage of LC/MS over NMR is observed in data analysis.When removing xenobiotic-related material only a small time slice at oneor two specific masses will be removed from the data set. Therefore, theremaining LC/MS data is left unaltered and available for mathematicalanalysis, e.g., PCA.

Principle component analysis is a very effective mathematical device foranalyzing the data obtained from MS. However, PCA is a two-dimensionaltechnique whereas data obtained from LC/MS is three-dimensional. Curly,there exists a need to enable PCA to maintain the chromatographicseparation information that is normally lost in conventional PCAanalysis.

In general, there are many experimental conditions where the informationabout the results is contained in data that is characterized by multipleparameters. When the interpretive tools cannot handle these parameters,information is lost A methodology that improves the resolution ofanalysis of LC/MS data that is analyzed by the PCA process is applicableto other data sets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention pertains to a method of analyzing multi-dimensional datausing a tool that handles fewer dimensions. In a particular embodiment,this invention pertains to a method of analyzing the three-dimensionaldata obtained from a chromatography/spectrometry run, such as an LC/MSrun using a two-dimensional multi-variant statistical analysis techniquesuch as PCA. Typically, PCA analysis is performed using only twodimensional data. In the present invention, the analysis is performedusing three-dimensional data.

Data obtained from a chromatography operation is characterize by anumber of parameters. In particular, the chromatography separates thesample as a function of time. Retention time, the length of time acomponent of the sample is retained on the solid phase is particularlyinformative. Different components of the sample elute from the solidphase at different times depending on the conditions. This timedependant characteristic is useful in differentiating particularcomponents of the sample.

Further parameters may be specific to the detection method used afterthe chromatography separation. For instance, in fluorescence detectionthe parameters of interest are wavelength and intensity of light, whilein ultraviolet detection, a parameter of interest is the amount ofabsorbed light. In many cases, the greater the number of parameters ananalysis method can handle, the more discininatng the result. When oneparameter must be ignored entirely, the opportunity to disininatebetween data points that differ only by that parameter is lost.

Data obtained from an LC/MS operation consists of three parameters. Thefirst of these parameters is specific to the LC portion of the systemLiquid chromatography separates analytes as a function of time.Therefore, the data obtained from the LC portion is time-based, i.e.,retention time (R_(t)). Different analytes will elute from the solidphase element of the LC system (the column) at different times dependingupon the eluant, etc. This differential separation allows for a R_(t)characteristic for each analyte. This information can be useful indetermining, for example, the identity of a particular analyte.

The second and third parameter is specific to the MS portion of theLC/MS system. Once a sample is separated via LC, individual analytesenter the MS portion of the system. Depending upon the conditions of theMS, the analyte will be ionized within a given volume and then beaccelerated to a molecular mass detector. The mass-to-charge ratio (m/z)and intensity can be determined following mass detection. Thisinformation is used to determine differences between two or moresamples.

Typically, PCA analysis is used to perform this determination using onlythe m/z and intensity parameters. Thus, the R_(t) data does notcontribute to the overall analysis. This tradeoff has been acceptedbecause of the abundance of data available from the mass spectrometer,with approximately 5 to 10 AMU points per ion peak. The presentinvention addresses this failure by incorporating data binning. Withdata binning, the R_(t) information is not lost in the PCA analysis,thus facilitating three-dimensional data analysis. Comparison betweensamples now includes R_(t), m/z, and intensity data. This technique isespecially useful in surveying the results of a complex sample, wherethe answer to a simple question must be found in masses of complex data.Hence, subtle changes between samples heretofore undetectable can now beelucidated.

In one embodiment, individual LC/MS chromatogrms are divided intopredetermined fractions (or bins). These bins reflect the R_(t)parameter. The size of the bin is determined by the operator. Forexample, the bin size can be one minute, reflecting one minute intervalsalong the chromatogram Within each bin, the intensity information forall the scans performed during the bin time are summed for each species(m/z )present during the corresponding R_(t). The bin, or more preciselythe data contained within it, is then transformed and exported to a datamatrix such as a commercial spreadsheet, for example, Excel. Therefore,the original graphical data is transformed into a tabular form of dataThe information within each bin that is transformed are chromatographictime, m/z and intensity. More than one bin can undergo thistransformation. For example, there can be sixty bins representing onebin per minute for a sixty minute LC procedure. Alternately, bins may beorganized in an overlapping fashion so that for instance, ninetyone-minute bins originating once per 40 seconds are used to analyze asixty minute LC procedure. Once the transformation is complete, the datasets (data within the table) are aligned with zeros. Alignment of thedata sets simply refers to a gap filling procedure, For example, if inbin 3 at m/z=100 there is an intensity value of 102 and in bin 4 atm/z100 there is no intensity value, then a zero is placed in bin 4 atthe intensity position corresponding to m/z=100. In other words, thezero serves as a place holder, thus allowing for proper data alignment.Hence, each data set has one intensity value (including zero) for eachm/z. Additionally, isotope abundance maybe combined, for example,combining values for C¹² and its isotope C¹³. Finally, the spreadsheetfiles are transferred to a commercial PCA system, for example, MatLab,for PCA analysis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic showing the steps involved in an embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a comparison of negative ion BPI LC/MS chromatograms forcontrol and dosed rats;

FIG. 3 is a comparison of negative ion BPI LC/MS urine chromatogramsfrom rats dosed with compound A at time point 1 and time point 2;

FIG. 4 is a comparison of negative ion BPI LC/MS urine chromatogramsfrom rats dosed with compound B at time point 1 and time point 2;

FIG. 5 is a comparison of negative ion BPI LC/MS urine chromatogramsfrom rats dosed with compound C at time point 1 and time point 2;

FIG. 6(a) is an extracted ion chromatogram, and (b) is an MS spectrumfor peaks 338 m/z;

FIG. 7 is a PCA plot of an ere data set consisting of rat urine samples1-24;

FIG. 8(a) is a combined and overlaid mass spectra, and (b) is a PCA plotof fraction from 5 minutes to 6 minutes; and

FIG. 9(a) is a combined and overlaid mass spectra, and (b) a PCA plot offraction from 3 minutes to 4 minutes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention pertains to a method of analyzing multi-dimensional datausing a tool that handles fewer dimensions. This invention hasparticular applicability to analysis of the data from a chromatographyprocedure followed by a spectrometric procedure. The data set in thesecases has a time component, as well as typically an intensity value fora physical or chemical characteristic of the sample. In a particularembodiment, this invention pertains to a method of analyzing dataobtained from a Liquid Chromatography (LC)/Mass Spectrometry (MS)procedure using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Typically, PCAanalysis is performed using only two-dimensional data. In the presentinvention, the analysis is performed using three-dimensional data. Thedetailed description of the LC/MS and PCA analysis illustrates themethodology of the general case as well as this specific embodiment.

The chromatography portion of the system permits separation of analyteswithin a sample matrix. The information obtained from such a procedureis typically reported as retention time (R_(t)). As the analytesprogress through the system, they enter the MS region of the LC/MSsystem. There they are ionized and a mass detector then detects theseionized species providing m/z and intensity information. Therefore, anLC/MS system can furnish at least three pieces of information. Whilemany multi-variant statistical analysis techniques can be used,principle component analysis (PCA) is a robust method of analyzing dataand is quite useful when making comparisons between different samples.However, PCA analysis is typically performed using only atwo-dimensional data set. Therefore, it is expected that at least oneparameter of data obtained from a LC/MS operation is lost. In thepresent invention, the analysis is performed using three-dimensionaldata sets along with PCA analysis.

A commonly employed method to separate analytes in a sample matrix ischromatography, in particular, liquid chromatography (LC) although gaschromatography (GC) provides similar data for sample that are gaseous.High Performance Liquid Chromatography (hereinafter “HPLC) allows forfast and efficient separation and characterization of analytes within agiven sample. Components of an HPLC system include high pressure pumpswhich facilitate the movement of an aqueous and/or organic phase throughthe system. This aqueous phase (or mobile phase) comprises a solventthat is used to initially equilibrate the HPLC system. The solvent alsoprovides an aqueous milieu for analytes to traverse through the entireHPLC system. Finally, the mobile phase comprises solvent which elutesanalytes from an HPLC column.

Another component of an HPLC system is the chromatography separationscolumn. The column comprises a solid phase. This solid phase, incombination with the mobile phase, effectuates differential separationof analytes contained within a sample matrix. The solid phase generallyconsists of chemical polymers that interact with a certain class ofanalytes. For example, a reverse-phase HPLC column has a solid phasechemistry (e.g., a hydrocarbon chain consisting of eighteen carbonsattached to a silica bead) that interacts with analytes via hydrophobicforces.

Once the analytes are eluted from the column, they traverse into andthrough a detector. There are a variety of detection systems that can beemployed in an HPLC system. For example, there are ultra-violet (“UV”)detectors that detect analytes within the UV range, infrared (IR)detectors that detect analytes within the IR range, electro-chemicaldetectors that detect analytes using voltametric techniques, nuclearmagnetic resonance detectors that detect analytes based on theirresponse to a magnetic field, and mass spectrometer detectors thatdetect analytes based on the mass to charge ratio.

In an LC/MS system, the sample matrix is first subjected to LCseparation, thereby effectuating the separation of analytes within thesample. This information, often conveyed by an analyte's R_(t), can beused for characterizing and identifying the analyte. However, furtherinformation can be obtained, especially for comparisons made betweendifferent samples, by subjecting the analytes to MS detection. Ingeneral, mass spectrometers ionize molecules within a given volume andthen accelerate the ionized molecules to a molecular mass detector.Ionization of a molecule can occur through electron-ionization, chemicalionization, electrospray ionization, or photoionization. The ionizationprocess can occur under various pressure conditions, includingatmospheric pressure. Information obtained from MS includes theintensity of response for a particular m/z value. It is this intensity(as well as m/z) information that is important when comparing two ormore samples.

The MS information can be harnessed for comparative analysis. Forexample, assume that one is experimenting with a human cell line. Thegoal of the study is to determine what if any effect compound X has on aparticular metabolite. To continue, assume that the operator hasobtained two samples, sample 1, a control sample, i.e., cell extractfrom a cell culture in which no compound X was added, and sample 2, acell extract taken from a cell culture system in which compound X wasadded. These two samples can be subjected to LC/MS. Let us furtherassume that the metabolite of interest is amenable to chromatographicisolation using a reverse-phase column. Once separated via LC, thesamples, sample 1 and sample 2 independently, can be subjected to MSanalysis. The MS signals generated from the two samples can then becompared, particularly for the metabolite of interest to determine ifits intensity increases, decreases, or remains unaffected by theaddition of compound X.

FIG. 1 shows a flow chart depicting the various steps of the presentinvention as applied to a LC/MS experiment. FIG. 1 a depicts in agraphical format data obtained from an LC/MS procedure on a fictitioussample. As shown, the graph defines three parameters. The X-axis definesthe m/z parameter, for example, the X-axis can extend from 100 to 800m/z in 0.1 m/z steps. The Y-axis of FIG. 1 a represents the intensity orresponse parameter. The intensity can be set as a percentage of acertain ion, e.g., the base peak. Finally, there is a Z-axis thatrepresents the time parameter. Depicted in FIG. 1 a are ion speciesdiffering in at least one if not all three parameters. Yet each ionspecies is uniquely defined by the parameters in FIG. 1 a

Extant PCA analysis requires that the data represented in FIG. 1 a beconverted into a two-dimensional data set prior to analysis. Forexample, conventional PCA analysis can be performed using the m/z andintensity parameters. However, this would eliminate the time parameter.A more thorough analysis would include all relevant informationavailable including the time dimension. FIG. 1 b represents a processwhereby all three parameters can be conserved and subjected to analysis.Data binning is a process of separating one data set representingmultiple measurement points into multiple data sets that aggregatemeasurement points. A bin corresponds to a range of one parameter, thebin parameter. The variation of the bin parameter within each bin iseliminated such as by accumulating all data points within the bin at thebin value. Note that a bin that encompassed the entire data set has thesame effect as ignoring the bin parameter. While it is most common toutilize disjoint bins, overlapping bins may be used for some analysis.In transitioning from FIG. 1 a to FIG. 1 b, a process of data binningoccurs wherein a predetermined bin size is selected. The bin size is afunction of the time dimension. For example, the bin size can be twominutes. Multiple bins are shown in FIG. 1 b. Each bin contains both m/zand intensity information for ion species found in all the scans fallingwithin that bin. The bin (or region) sizes are selected by apractitioner based on experience and the sample being tested. Selectionmethods are well known to those skilled in the art. For example,MassLynx software can be employed. Using this software, a bin iscollected as follows: (1) open the total ion chromatogram; (2) select abin region by right mousing and dragging over the bin area, a combinedmass spectrum will appear (the bin); (3) in the combined mass spectrum(bin) window, a “List Spectrum” option will appear and is activated; (4)as List Spectrum is chosen, a window displays m/z with its correspondingabundances in a two column format; (5) copy the data contained withinthe two columns; and (6) paste into a spreadsheet like Excel.

Following the data binning process, a transformation step occurs. (SeeFIG. 1 b to FIG. 1 c). This transformation converts the separate listsderived from the graphical data format into a matrix datarepresentation. A practitioner can begin this transformation by simplyemploying a “cut and paste” procedure, delivering the two column dataset information to a commercial spreadsheet like Excel. Once this partof the transformation is complete, the data set needs to be aligned withzeros. Each bin must have a value of all the ions to be analyzed. Inorder to assure analysis fidelity, zeros are inserted as intensityvalues where no ion signal was observed for that bin, resulting in eachdata set having one intensity value for each m/z parameter. Then the m/zparameter columns can be melded into one column that acts as one axis ofthe matrix. Alternatively, a software program can be used to automatethis transformation. A depiction of the tabular representation is shownin FIG. 1 c. In FIG. 1 c there is a m/z column and a bin row. The m/zcolumn contains the m/z ions to be analyzed. The bin row contains thedesired bins to be analyzed. The matrix intersection contains intensityvalues corresponding to proper m/z and bin parameters. Further datamanipulation, based on known transformations in m/z and intensity causedby the test, may be done by the operator before the data is subjected toanalysis. For instance, isotope abundance can be combined so that thevalues for, for instance, C¹² and its isotope C¹³ are combined.

The matrix or spreadsheet is then transferred and subjected to acommercial PCA program where comparisons between various samples can beperformed. One such commercial PCA program is MatLab available fromMathWorks, Natick, Mass. Another PCA package can be obtained fromInfoMetrix, located in Woodinville, Wash., and is called Pirouette.

By blurring some of the mass spectrometer's inherent high resolution bycombining the data resulting from multiple scans via binning, thetwo-dimensional analysis can handle the resulting three dimensional datais allows the mass of data to be analyzed where a change betweenspecimens is expected but the location of the change in the variousscans is not known. After the location of the variation is known, lateranalysis can used the high resolution inherent in the raw data tofurther characterize the differences. The binning technique can beapplied to adapt data sets to many types of multi-variant statisticalanalysis.

The features and other details of the invention will now be moreparticularly described and pointed out in the following example. It willbe understood that the particular embodiments of the invention are shownby way of illustration and not as limitations of the invention. Theprinciple features of this invention can be employed in variousembodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention.

EXAMPLE

Rat Urine Samples:

A total of 20 rat samples were used for this experiment. The rats weredivided into four (4) groups. Group I received the dosing matrix alone,Group II, III, and IV were orally dosed with compounds A, B, and C,respectively. Samples of rat urine were collected at two time points,0-8 and 8-24 hours after dosing. The rat urine was stored frozen at −20°C. prior to analysis.

Chromatography:

The chromatography was performed using a Waters Alliance 2795 HTequipped with a column oven and a Waters 2996 PDA detector. A 20 μL/mininjection of rat urine (diluted 1:4 with distilled water) was made ontoa 10 cm×2.1 mm Waters Symmetry C₁₈ 3.5 μm column. The column wasmaintained at 40° C. and eluted under gradient conditions at a flow rateof 600 μL/min, where eluant “A” was 0.1% aqueous formic acid, and eluant“B” was acetonitrile. The column was maintained at 100% A for the firstminute, then the mobile phase was rapidly increased to 30% B over thenext 7 minutes. The mobile phase was then rapidly increased to 95% Bover 0.1 minutes. This mobile phase was maintained for 0.5 minutes inorder to wash the column and then returned to the initial conditionsover 0.1 minutes. The next injection was made 10 minutes after the firstinjection.

Mass Spectrometry

The mass spectrometric analysis was performed on a MicroMass QuattroMicro equipped with an electrospray interface (“ESI”). The instrumentwas operated in negative ion mode with a capillary voltage of 3 kV, thecone voltage was set to 25 Volts, the nebulizer gas was set at 600 L/hrwith a desolvation temperature of 150° C. and a source temperature of70° C. The column effluent was split in a ratio of 5:1, such that 100μL/min entered the mass spectrometer source. The instrument was operatedin full scan mode, scanning from 100-800 m/z with a scan time of 200msec and an interscan delay time of 50 msec. Data was collected from0-10 minutes. The initial portion of the chromatogram was not directedto waste.

Data Analysis:

The LC/MS chromatograms were inspected for the presence of anydrug-related products such as Phase I and Phase II metabolites. Eachindividual LC/MS chromatogram was then divided into 10 fractions of 100scans. The MS signal was combined for each individual chromatogramfraction of 100 scans. The peaklist and ion abundances were thenexported to an Excel file. The data sets were then aligned with zerosbeing inserted as intensity values where no ion signal was observed,such that each data set had one intensity value for each m/z integerbetween 100 and 800. The Excel files were then transferred to MatLab forPCA analysis using an in house program.

Discussion:

Rat urine potentially contains several thousand components most of whichremain unknown. The vast majority of these components are of moderate orhigh polarity, hence, it was only necessary to employ a gradient from0-30% organic content to effect complete elution of all of thecomponents in the urine samples. Negative ion ESI MS was chosen as themode of MS detection as it gave a more information rich data set thanpositive ion ESI. The chromatography column length, gradient time, andeffluent flow rate employed in this study was chosen to give the bestbalance between sample throughput and chromatographic resolution. Itprovided a sample throughput of 6 samples per hour and a peak capacityof 78.

While this peak capacity is not very high, the use of mass spectrometryscanning from 100-800 m/z provides a much greater effective peakcapacity. In this study, we have employed a simple reverse-phasechromatography system. It is fully appreciated that many highly polarcompounds, such as amino acids and sugars, will not be retained.Modifying the system permits elucidation of these compounds.

A preliminary comparison of the base peak intensity (“BPI”)chromatograms of the control rat urine and urine samples from the dosedanimals at time point 1 reveals a qualitative difference, see FIG. 2. Ascan be observed from these chromatograms, there are several peaks in thedosed sample group chromatograms that show elevated levels when comparedto those in the control group. These peaks elute in the 5-9 minutes timeregion of the chromatogram. A thorough investigation of these peaksconfirmed that none of them were metabolites resulting from the dosedcompounds. Therefore, these peaks must be due to a change in themetabolic state of the animals.

The BPI chromatograms obtained from the time point 2 samples forcompound “A” shows some subtle changes in some peak intensities whencompared to the time point 1 samples, see FIG. 3. In the time point 2sample, the analytes eluting between 5-7 minutes seems to have reducedrelative concentration compared to those same analytes in time point 1.The samples for compounds “B” and “C” show less variation between timepoints 1 and 2, see FIGS. 4 and 5. As these time point 1 and 2 samplesare day and night samples one would expect to see a significantvariation between the two sample types even without the dosing of axenobiotic. This implies that the compounds associated with the changesin animal metabolism between day and might were either not retained ornot detected.

The peaks identified to have changed in the dosed samples compared tothe control are listed in Table 1. (An extracted ion chromatogram of oneof these ions at m/z=338 and the MS spectrum of this peak are given inFIG. 6.) TABLE 1 Compound dosed Analyte m/z value Relative change A 28310 fold increase A 461  5 fold increase A 187 10 fold increase B 338  2fold decrease B 283 10 fold increase B 461 10 fold increase B 187 10fold increase C 283 20 fold increase C 187 30 fold increase

The data in Table 1 illustrate the changes in peak intensity observedfor these peaks in the control samples and the dosed samples. As can beobserved from this data, the changes in the peak concentrations are verysignificant. The fact that these compounds were also observed in thecontrol samples confirms that these peaks were not metabolic products ofthe dosed compounds.

The PCA analysis of the entire data set is presented in FIG. 7. In thisfigure, the data relating to the control samples are contained withinthe ringed areas. The control samples are clearly separated from thedosed animal samples. This PCA analysis was performed using the entiredata set of retention time and m/z values. Fractionating thechromatogram into 10 time regions also allowed PCA analysis to beperformed on specific time regions of the chromatogram.

The PCA analysis of the data between 5 and 6 minutes is presented inFIG. 8. Here it is possible to separate the control samples, containedinside the ringed area, from the dosed samples. The combined MS spectrumindicates that the MS peaks responsible for the mapping of the dosed andcontrol samples to different regions of the PCA plot were m/z=283 andm/z=261. The m/z=283 ion has increased in intensity in the dosed sampleswhereas the m/z=261 ion has reduced in intensity in the dosed samples.This result confirms the observations made by analyzing the LC/MS data

FIG. 9 shows the PCA analysis of the LC/MS data between 3 and 4 minutes.In this data, there is no separation between the control and dosedsamples. This data indicates that in the region of the chromatogramthere was no significant difference between the dosed and controlsamples.

The application of LC/MS coupled to PCA data analysis has beensuccessfully applied to the screening of rat urine following theadministration of three candidate pharmaceuticals. With thismethodology, it was possible to differentiate the control samples fromthe dosed samples. It was also possible, using PCA analysis, to identifythe components of the MS spectrum responsible for the separation. Thisdata clearly demonstrates that LC/MS is a viable alternative or evencomplementary to proton NMR for metabonomic applications in drugdiscovery and development.

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims hereto.

1. A method of analyzing three-dimensional data derived from at leasttwo samples using a two-dimensional analysis technique, comprising: (a)obtaining data for said samples, said data characterized by at least afirst parameter, a second parameter, and a third parameter, at least thethird parameter being correlated with time; (b) binning said obtaineddata to form a plurality of binned data sets for each of said samples,wherein a bin size is selected based on the third parameter correlatedwith time and data points of each binned data set are characterizedutilizing the first and second parameters; (c) forming, for each of saidsamples, a two-dimensional array from said binned data sets byassociating said first parameter with one axis of the two-dimensionalarray and associating bin numbers with a second axis of thetwo-dimensional array, wherein values of said second parameter of thedata points of said binned data sets are associated with elements of thetwo-dimensional array; (d) subjecting each of said two-dimensionalarrays to a two dimensional multi-variant statistical analysis; and (e)determining a time bin associated with a difference in a level of atleast one component between at least two of said samples, by comparingdata associated with said analyzed two-dimensional arrays. 2-22.(canceled)
 23. The method of claim 1 wherein said two dimensionalmulti-variant statistical analysis is chosen from the set consisting ofclassical least squares analysis (CSL), principle component analysis(PCA), partial least squares analysis (PLS) and partial least squaresdiscriminant analysis (PLS-DA).
 24. The method of claim 23 wherein saidtwo-dimensional multi-variant statistical analysis is principlecomponent analysis (PCA).
 25. The method of claim 1 wherein saidthree-dimensional data is derived from a chromatographic processcombined with a spectrometric process.
 26. The method of claim 25wherein said chromatographic process is a liquid chromatography process.27. The method of claim 25 wherein said spectrometric process is chosenfrom the set consisting of ultraviolet spectroscopy, infraredspectroscopy, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance.
 28. Themethod of claim 27 wherein said spectrometric process is massspectrometry.
 29. The method of claim 25 wherein the first parameter isa physically accessible variable corresponding to a physical /chemicalproperty of said sample and the second parameter is an intensity of saidvariable and said third parameter correlated with time is a duration ofR_(t).
 30. The method of claim 29 wherein said physically accessiblevariable corresponding to a physical/chemical property of said sample ism/z.
 31. The method of claim 25 wherein said three-dimensional data isderived from a liquid-chromatography/mass spectrometry process.
 32. Amethod of analyzing three-dimensional data using principle componentanalysis (PCA), comprising: (a) obtaining chromatography/massspectrometry data for a sample, said data characterized by at leastthree parameters including R_(t), m/z and intensity; (b) binning saidobtained data to form a plurality of binned data sets, wherein a binsize is selected based on R_(t) and data points of each binned data setare characterized using one or more values of the m/z and intensityparameters for each of one or more ion species associated with each bin;(c) forming a two dimensional array from said binned data sets byassociating said m/z parameter with one axis of the two dimensionalarray and associating bin numbers with a second axis of the twodimensional array, wherein values of the intensity parameter of the datapoints of said binned data sets are associated with elements of thetwo-dimensional array; and (d) subjecting said two dimensional array toPCA analysis.
 33. The method of claim 32 wherein saidchromatography/mass spectrometry data is derived from aliquid-chromatography/mass spectrometry process.